by JAMES TYLER KENT, A.M., M.D.Late Professor of Materia Medica in
Hering College, Chicago.Presented by Dr Robert Séror

Benzoïcum Acidum

C6H5_CO2H.

Whenever we see in the nature of a remedy a well-defined state and
condition of the human system pointed out by certain distinctive groups of symptoms we may
know that there is such a

diseasedstate in the human family.

They have not the power to create by themselves any diseased state except
there is first such a state in the economy of the human race to be aroused.

They simply call up in a single individual something that the individual
has, and that something belongs to the human race, and so whenever we see a diseased state
in the remedy we know that it exists in correspondence to something in the human race.

Things are so adjusted that everything is for use. There may be
conditions in the human race that we, as yet, know no remedy for.

We see certain groups of peculiar symptoms frequently repeat themselves
and we know they are representatives of a state of the economy, but up to this day we may
not have seen in the Materia

Medica their counterpart.

In medicines we have the exact counterpart the diseases of the human
race.

Gouty constitution

:
Now this remedy has astate and condition that is sometimes called the gouty constitution, the uraemic or the lithaemic constitution,
and, these cases are very difficult to manage, as the state is so persistent. It is one of
the manifestations of Psora.

Urines

: These patients
suffer more or less from irregularity in the action of the kidneys; sometimes the urine is
scanty and then they suffer from bodily complaints; again the urine is copious and then they
are relieved of their complaints.

They are subject to rheumatic attacks and pains in the joints, showing
the gouty constitution, and then they have relief when the urine is copiousand
heavily laden with deposits; but oncomes an attack when they have more or less
urine, but it is light in specific gravity, and then they are full of pains; in that way
they fluctuate.

Now, the young prescriber will sometimes see the patient when he is
passing large quantities of uric acid forming the red pepper deposits and he thinks he must
stop that; his main idea is to check that one particular thing.

But the patient is a great deal better off while he has it. To cheek it
is like suppressing a skin eruption, or restraining any other manifestation of disease.

It will be noticed, as one of the foremost things in this remedy's
manifestations, that it has strong smelling urine; the urine is pungent, and it sometimes
becomes so strong that it smells like,

Hippuricumacid, and so it is said urine smells strong like that of a horse.

The odor in this remedy approximates that of

Hippuricum acid.

Complaints

: The
complaints then, of Benzoïc acid are such as are changeable, and we know why they
are changeable; when the urine is copious and plenty of uric acid is being
passed, and the urine is full of deposits, then the patient is at his best; when the urine
is scanty or of light specific gravity he suffers from backache and pains in the joints, he
suffers from atmospheric changes, is sensitive to cold drafts and to the air; but let the
urine start up again, which it does in a sort of alternating way, light urine alternating
with heavy urine, and the patient is comfortable again.

Then, there are complaints in which the urine smells strong and pungent;
this often occurs in children. It is astonishing that these little ones manifest the

uric
acid diathesis in early life.

Children

: Mothers
often describe it as intensely urinous. It smells like intensified urine; it is not the
smell, so much, of decomposed urine nor offoetid urine, but urine intensified.

It has cured many times wetting the bed involuntary urination in sleep,
when the bed that has been wetted several times becomes uncleanable.

You can smell it almost as quick as you go into the room; the children
all, smell like urine, strong urine; the house smells like urine. If two or three of these
little fellows wet the bed at night, the urine is so strong it tells the story at once.

This medicine needs reproving; details have not been brought ou yet in
nature is known. We have a good many medicines having this nature, but this is perhaps as
intense as any.

This remedy does not. of course, fit all these patients, because it does
not fit their special symptoms; but it has the nature or general state which, of course,
precedes everything, and when it relates to all the particulars as well it does make
wonderful changes.

Mind

: There are a few
mental symptoms.

"Inclined to dwell on unpleasant things; if he saw anyone deformed,
it made him shudder."

Alternation of profound sleep with prolonged periods of wakefulness. In
the period of wakefulness, he dwells, during the night, upon all the unpleasant subjects
that he can think of.

This state alternates with nights of stupid sleep for weeks, and this
fluctuates, in accordance with the fluctuation of the state of urine.

"Sadness."

"Anxiety while sweating."

"Child cross."

Head

: There are many
headaches; they are uraemic in character and come in many regions with many details.

"Fearful pain in occiput or cerebellum."

"Rheumatic pains in head."

That is well described, because these headaches of uraemic character take
on a similarity to rheumatic pains.

"Pain and heat in region of organs of reverence and firmness."

"Tearing pain in vertex."

The headaches are very numerous; the remedy is full of dull, aching
occipital headaches, coming on in the night from change of weather.

Pains located in the base of the brain after pains have existed for some
time in the joints, and they are passing but little urine.

Every time he takes a little cold the urine becomes scanty and he is full
of dull aches and pains in the head and especially in the occiput.

Smell

: Perversion of smell.

"Sense of smell diminished."

"Pain in nasal bones."

Tongue

: Another form
of transformation scene takes place in this remedy, when all the gouty symptoms of the body
cease and inflammation of the tongue comes on.

The pains in the joints cease suddenly from taking cold, from stormy
weather and on comes a sudden swelling of the tongue.

Mercury

also has this state.

"Extensive ulcerations of tongue, with deeply chapped or fungoid
surfaces."

Then, again peculiar kinds of sore throat take place from this same
cause.

Sudden stoppage or slacking up of the quantity of urine; it becomes
scanty, high colored, and pungent, smelling like that of a horse (

Nitric acid) along with acute
inflammation and swelling of the tonsils and throat inflammation of the tonsils with scanty,
strong, pungent urine smelling like that of a horse.

Metastasis

: Another
feature that seems almost like metastasis.

Take an individual who is going around with more or less rheumatic aches
in the joints; he takes cold and all this ceases, but the next day he comes down with
inflammation of the tongue or sore throat, or

inflammation of the stomach; sothat he
vomits every thing he eats.

The gout goes to different parts and in this instance it goes to the
stomach; and

then Benzoic acid, Antimonium,
crud. or Sanguinaria is likely to be useful.

When it goes to the throat or is followed by swelling of the tongue

Mercury and Benzoic acid should
be thought of.

Whenever this gouty condition goes to the stomach, of course it must
conform to those symptoms that are in the nature of this remedy.

In this remedy we have:

"loathing, sickness at Stomach,"

"nausea with gagging,"

"vomiting of a salty substance; bitter,"

When we think of

Benzoic
acid for the stomach symptoms, it is
important that we have in mind its whole nature, how it brings about its complaints and what
characterizes a Benzoic acid patient.

We would not be able to distinguish from the stomach symptoms alone we
must carry with them the character of the remedy.

Stools

: It has much
disturbance of the liver, and many liver symptoms. As to the bowels, the stool, the rectum,
anus and urinary organs, it is very rich in symptoms.

Its striking ones I will call your attention to, but remember its
migrating, metastatic nature, its complaints going from one part to another, which will
accompany these symptoms.

"Stools, copious, watery."

This is true in summer diarrhoea that has come on suddenly, "

excessivelyoffensive,"

The white stool, like soap-suds, is so strong a symptom that the remedy
does not fail to cure even when the gouty constitution is not present.

"Excessively offensive, scenting the whole house."

"Putrid, bloody."

"Watery, light-colored, very offensive stools (in children)."

So we get the idea that the stools are white and that the first passages
are like soap-suds, but later the soap appearance subsides and leaves a white stool.

It is well, often, when a stool is passed that is of a light liquid, to
bear in mind a few remedies that produce this state and ascertain whether it is like
soapsuds or filled with bubbles of air.

"Diarrhea of children."

The urinous odor of the body, and especially that peculiarly pungent,
intense smell of the urine.

"Slightly elevated, wart-like, round surfaces around anus."

The urinary symptoms are too numerous to read.

"Foetid urine."'

"Urine of a very repulsive odor."

"Effervescing with hydrochloric acids."

The odor is sometimes like hartshorn; it is pungent; these are only
efforts to describe the strong smell.

"Urine dark brown."

It is true that normal urine after standing a while will get a foetid
odor, but in this remedy, that just passed is properly described as being intensely urinous.

"Urine contains mucus and pus."

"Morbid condition of urine renders urine acid."

it says in the text "

Hippuricum acid,"
but this is a rare condition.

"Brown urine smells sour."

"Too frequent desire to evacuate bladder."

"Nephritic colic."

"Urine dark, urinous odor highly intensified."

Gouty troubles of the liver; rheumatism; nephritic colic; it has cured
such states after gonorrhoea, but it is not much of a gonorrhoeal remedy.

When the rheumatic states and these symptoms are present there are more
or less pains in the kidney.

" Sore pain in the back; burning in the kidney."

"Prolapsus uteri with foetid urine."

"Retention of urine in infants."

"Asthma with inflammatory rheumatic complaints."

"Cough followed by expectoration of green mucus."

Heart

: The organ that
is most commonly affected in these rheumatic complaints is the heart. No organ is so likely
to be affected when rheumatism leaves the outermost parts as the heart.

Pains in the heart. So in this diathesis, with the strong smelling urine
and the gout, we may expect affections of the heart.

"Pains change place incessantly."

"Palpitation of the heart."

The rheumatism, of course, is affecting the heart.

"Awakens after midnight with violent pulsations of the heart."

Think a moment and you will see in what kind of a case you will need

Benzoic acid.

The constitution of the remedy comes to mind at once with the heart
symptoms, the dyspnea, pain in the heart with rheumatic symptoms;

"cannot go to sleep."

Think of the alternation of sleeplessness with sleep; think of the strong
urine, of the fluctuating complaints, of the erratic constitution.

"Palpitation worse at night."

"Rheumatic pains in extremities relieving heart."

There we get relief; complaints going back to the extremities with relief
to the heart. The heart will relieve when the urine becomes copious or when the rheumatism
goes back to the extremities, into the fingers and knees, especially the knees in

Benzoic acid.

Rheumatism alternating between the extremities and heart. This medicine
has cured affections of the heart when the rheumatism has a long time ago disappeared from
the extremities and has ever since been affecting the heart; after

Benzoic acid has
been administered a very good sign of its action is that the extremities become painful and
the urine becomes copious; free urine and solids increased; the urine becomes heavy, whereas
it was light.

"Hard, frequent pulse."

Extremities

: The
extremities are full of rheumatic affections.

"Lassitude in lower limbs."

"Swelling of knee."

All gouty affections belong to this remedy.

"Gouty concretions."

"Nodes on joints."

Benzoic acid

is often
an excellent palliating remedy in old gouty constitutions; they want to be relieved of the
pains in their fingers and in the nodes and joints. The fingers crack and are clumsy and
painful.

But often the pain has been relieved and gone to other parts. This is one
among the remedies that will drive the complaints away from the internal organs and
generally increase the pain in the extremities, which they will scold about.